A new study published this week in Scienceconcludes that you may get something unexpected from reading great literary works: more finely-tuned social and emotional skills. Conducted by Emanuele Castano and David Comer Kidd (researchers in the psych department at the New School for Social Research), the study determined that readers of literary fiction (as opposed to popular fiction or non-fiction) find themselves scoring better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence. In some cases, it took reading literary fiction for only a few minutes for test scores to improve.

The New York Times has a nice overview of the study, where, among other things, it features a quote by Albert Wendland, an English professor at Seton Hall, who puts the relationship between literature and social intelligence into clear terms: “Reading sensitive and lengthy explorations of people’s lives, that kind of fiction is literally putting yourself into another person’s position — lives that could be more difficult, more complex, more than what you might be used to in popular fiction. It makes sense that they will find that, yeah, that can lead to more empathy and understanding of other lives.”

I’ve always felt Tolstoy novels was required reading for astrologers. I didn’t care others didn’t feel the same way because reading them gave me a competitive edge over them. I’ve read War and Peace several times.

Since a very young age I’ve been a big fan of classic literature. So it is very nice for me this article also gives a link to over 600 free eBooks of classical literature, including books written by Tolstoy.

There really is no excuse for not having an education, especially in humanities, when there are so many treasures like the books listed here that can be read absolutely free.

But as the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it.

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About Us

Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.